Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs sets trust in joint undertaking between HITEC Luxembourg S.A. and SES TechCom S.A. and Luxembourg Air Rescue - LAR

Luxembourg, 19th December 2014: The Luxembourg Government signed a new agreement with the Joint Undertaking (JU) between HITEC Luxembourg S.A. and SES TechCom S.A. - in partnership with Luxembourg Air Rescue - to extend the emergency.lu rapid response solution for a duration of six years.

emergency.lu is addressing the challenge of worldwide rapid response capacity and preparedness for humanitarian emergencies by providing a solution to fill the communication gap in the first hours and days after a large-scale disaster. The solution provides communication facilities in remote areas due to chronic humanitarian crises. It is being deployed since January 2012 following the initial contract signature in April 2011. Since then, emergency.lu has been productively deployed on multiple missions: South Sudan, Mali, Venezuela, Nepal, Philippines and lately in the Ebola prone regions in Africa. The emergency.lu solution is greatly appreciated by the international worldwide humanitarian community and has become an essential element in the disaster relief toolbox.

The success of the emergency.lu system swayed the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to not only continue the service offering, but even to extend the system. As such the number of rapid deployment kits is being augmented by ten additional terminals. These devices are consisting of an inflatable antenna plus redesigned NoSaCo® Rapid terminals which are entirely manufactured in the Grand Duchy by HITEC Luxembourg. These devices are making up the field infrastructure in case of natural or manmade disaster which require immediate intervention. The Grand Duchy is also investing in 30 new transportable or disposable antennas for long-term humanitarian missions to be used with HITEC Luxembourg’s new NoSaCo® Rack.

The satellite capacity used in emergency.lu to ensure a worldwide coverage is being extended. “On behalf of SES and as a member of the NSCF-emergency.lu joint undertaking, we are pleased to provide the Luxembourg Government and their development partners, among them the UN World Food Programme, with a satellite-based communication infrastructure including satellite capacity and services that will ensure the availability of quick and reliable data and voice communications in disaster relief theatres,” said Gerhard Bethscheider, Managing Director of SES TechCom.

“emergency.lu shows the technical expertise of HITEC Luxembourg in both domains of satellite ground segment and of ICT. The extension of the agreement with the Luxembourg Ministry demonstrates the success of the developed solutions and proves that we have met the expectations of our client on reliability, resilience and quality of service demanded by the public safety and humanitarian aid community,” stated Yves Elsen, Managing Partner and CEO of HITEC Luxembourg.

Both Luxembourg based companies, SES and HITEC Luxembourg, are honoured to continue – together with Luxembourg Air Ambulance - the involvement in humanitarian aid and disaster relief through the continued agreement with the Luxembourg Government.

emergency.lu is a unique and innovative integrated platform including applications, end devices and communication technologies. With the ability to deploy these rapidly to the crisis site, emergency.lu can assist major disaster relief and other emergencies, independent from existing infrastructures. These abilities create a pioneering platform that will promote the efficiency in rapid response and facilitate the processes. The concept based on know-how from Luxembourg combined with experience from international partners is the first one offering such a high degree of flexibility and performance.

Luxembourg's development cooperation has one clear objective, namely to eradicate poverty in developing countries. All actions are taken in the light of sustainable development, considering the social, economic and environmental aspects of all men, women and children involved. The main sector of intervention is the social field: health care and education, including vocational training as well as integrated local development. Moreover, relevant initiatives in the field of microfinance are supported at a conceptual as well as an operational level.

Since 2009, official development assistance (ODA) has exceeded 1 % of the GNI. ODA is implemented through the instruments of bilateral cooperation, multilateral cooperation and cooperation with development NGOs. It also includes a significant component of humanitarian action, which enables the government to instantly provide support in case of natural disasters or conflicts. Humanitarian action also includes a prevention, as well as a transition component.

HITEC Luxembourg S.A., a 100%-owned Luxembourg company, has developed its business activities in the field of innovative and quality products and services. The company is ISO 9001:2008 certified for engineering, analysis, consulting, manufacturing, maintenance and sales of systems in mechanics, electronics, physical measuring techniques as well as information and communication technologies. The Luxembourg ESR label for corporate social responsibility (CSR) certifies the commitment by HITEC Luxembourg to monitor and promote an approach to CSR with respect to economic, social and environmental dimensions of its stakeholders.

HITEC Luxembourg offers high technology solutions covering different business areas: satellite ground segment technology; customer specific and standard equipment for testing and measuring of physical properties; engineering; consulting; software & ICT development and project management. HITEC Luxembourg serves private and public sector customers at a national and international level. Its business objectives, as a specialized high technology provider are to achieve a strong sustainable market position; to expand its activities at an international level as well as to promote the Luxembourg site through the realization of innovative high quality value-added products and services.http://www.hitec.lu - http://www.hitec-luxembourg.com)

SES is a world-leading satellite operator with a fleet of 53 geostationary satellites. The company provides satellite communications services to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators and business and governmental organisations worldwide.

SES stands for long-lasting business relationships, high-quality service and excellence in the broadcasting industry. The culturally diverse regional teams of SES are located around the globe and work closely with customers to meet their specific satellite bandwidth and service requirements.

SES (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) holds participations in Ciel in Canada and QuetzSat in Mexico, as well as a strategic participation in satellite infrastructure start-up O3b Networks.

The JU of HITEC Luxembourg S.A. and SES TechCom S.A. ideally combines two companies with a vast satellite expertise in Luxembourg. The JU is managed by SES TechCom S.A. Both companies are ISO 9001:2008 certified to offer highest product and service quality to their clients.

Luxembourg Air Ambulance S.A. (LAA) is a subsidiary of Luxembourg Air Rescue A.s.b.l.. LAA is based at Luxembourg Airport where the company manages its hangars and offices.

LAA is specialized in air-rescue and air-ambulance operations. Its current fleet is composed of five rotary-wing aircraft MD 902 and five fixed-wing aircraft composed of three Learjet 45XR and two Learjet 35A. The rotor-wing operations are mainly exercised within the Greater region of Grand Duchy while the fixed-wing operations are operated world-wide.

All LAA aircraft are equipped as mobile intensive care unit and staffed with experienced emergency doctors and intensive care nurses. Thanks to LAA’s experience, it is able to dispatch its airplanes worldwide with short delay. LAA undertakes its own Part145 line maintenance facility at the International Airport of Luxembourg.

Luxembourg Air Ambulance is ISO 9001:2008 certified.

Luxembourg Air Ambulance provides its services in:

Secure storage and disaster logistics

Rapid deployment on site

Medical expertise

24/7 operations in the Luxembourg Control Center by multilingual and experienced staff, equipped with modern telecommunication, tracking and IT equipment

German-based global satellite provider CETel, enabled by SES Networks’ end-to-end managed connectivity solutions, has transformed mining operations in one of the most remote, land-locked sites in the world with access to cloud-based systems.
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